


Flower Girl

by Novanity



Category: Pocket Monsters | Pokemon - All Media Types, Pocket Monsters: Sun & Moon | Pokemon Sun & Moon Versions
Genre: Alcohol, Eventual Fluff, Eventual Smut, F/M, Implied/Referenced Child Abuse, Other Additional Tags to Be Added, Pokemon Fanfiction, Self-Discovery, Slow Burn
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-12-29
Updated: 2020-05-12
Packaged: 2021-02-27 07:53:39
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 5
Words: 17,549
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/22013650
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Novanity/pseuds/Novanity
Summary: Feeling lost in what you want to do with your life, you go to stay with your Auntie in Alola for the first time since you were a kid. Focusing on your goal of self discovery becomes a bit of a challenge when a white-haired, ex-gang leader stranger strolls into your life.... You can't help but feel there's something familiar about him though.... something about flowers...?
Relationships: Guzma (Pokemon)/Reader
Comments: 48
Kudos: 218





	1. Prologue

You close your eyes as you feel the mist from the ocean gently blow against your face. The gentle breeze makes your dress flow softly around your legs and your sparkly ribbon your mother had lovingly tied in your hair flutter. You open your eyes and stare in wonder at the island looming before you. You lean forward against the railing as your eyes sparkle with anticipation. You’ve never been to Alola in real life before, only having seen it in the pictures on the post cards your auntie sent you and your parents. You’ve begged your parents for a long time to visit Alola and now, at the age of 6, you will finally be seeing it for real.

You squeal in excitement, nearly suffocating your snubbull, Bubble, in your arms. He squirms against your tightening grip before going limp with a small ‘huff’, accepting his fate.

“We’re going to be docking soon.”

You turn quickly to see your father smiling down at you. On the surface he looked calm and collected, but by the glint in his eyes you could see that he's just as excited as you to be visiting his childhood home. Besides the postcards, a large part of the reason you were so eager to visit Alola had been because of your father’s stories of his life in Alola. He recounted many tales in which he and your auntie, his sister, would go out on Pokemon hunting adventures. You would often listen to him fondly go on and on about the pokemon that were unique to Alola and how he managed to catch his Alolan ninetales, Mercury, as a vulpix.

It was stories like those that truly brought you delight. You smile up eagerly at your father, unable to contain your immense excitement.

“Daddy, are we gonna go on adventures and see the Pokemon like you and auntie did?” You bounce energetically, jostling poor Bubble like a rag doll in your arms.

Your father chuckles and places a hand on your head, stopping your bouncing and sparing the dizzy looking snubbull. “Maybe, baby, we’ll see.”

Your mother walks up behind your father and places a hand on his shoulder.

“You two ready to get this vacation started?”

Your father turns and gives your mother a kiss, “Beyond ready, my love.”

You scrunch up your face at your parents' affection and turn back toward the railing to watch the ship dock.

“Look Bubby,” you hoist your snubbull up to watch along with you, “We’re here!”

Bubble, having been squished and squeezed in your little arms for a little over an hour manages to muster a tired tail wag to signal his shared excitement.

Upon docking, you and your parents gather your things and make your way off the ship. You skip ahead of your parents and hop onto the dock with Bubble held securely in your arms.

Your eyes widen. Alola was so much prettier than in the postcards. You watch as crowds of people wander around the dock with their Pokemon at their heels. Some Pokemon you have seen many times before at home, but there were others who you have only ever seen in the books your father gave you. 

“Slow down, love,” you hear your mother call, “try to stay close so you don’t get lost.”

You wait for your parents to reach the dock. As you rock back and forth on your heels, a woman walks out of the crowd and waves at you.

“Auntie!”

“Hello, my love!”

You run toward your auntie’s open arms, throwing one arm around her while the other remains firmly wrapped around Bubble.

“Oh look how big you’ve gotten.” Your auntie squeezes you tightly.

Occasionally, your auntie and cousins would come to visit you and your family, but those visits were few and far between due to the distance and cost of the journey. Most of the time your family settles for letters and phone calls as a way of keeping contact which wasn’t as satisfying as getting to see each other in person, but it was something.

Your father walks up behind you and hugs his sister after she’s finished greeting you.

“My, Sammy, you’ve gotten bigger too.” She teases, patting your father’s tummy.

Your father laughs heartily as he playfully shoves his sister, “Speak for yourself, what happened to that ‘diet’ of yours?”

Your father and auntie continue to poke fun at each other as your mother approaches.

“Hello, Alani.” your mother chirps, pushing your father out of the way to properly greet her sister in law.

“Mina, my dearest,” your auntie pulls your mother into a tight hug, “oh, I’ve missed you.”

After greeting and chatting for a bit, your parents and auntie gather your things and make your way to the truck meant to take you to your auntie’s house.

As you follow behind your parents, you feel Bubble stiffen in your arms and let out a low, grumbly growl. You look down at him and follow his gaze to an odd looking Pokemon skittering across the ground a few feet away. You’ve never really been a fan of bug Pokemon and you sneer in disgust upon seeing it.

Bubble shares your distaste for bug types and doesn’t break eye contact as he begins to wriggle violently in an attempt to escape and chase the other Pokemon.

“Bubby, no!” you cry out as Bubble frees himself from your grasp.

The bug Pokemon flinches upon noticing the snubbull charging toward it and darts away toward the beach. You go after him, too focused on catching your Pokemon to notice your parents calling for you to come back.

Bubble yips and snarls as he chases the bug Pokemon onto the sandy beach. The bug Pokemon trills in alarm, zipping across the sand with the speed and grace of a Pokemon definitely familiar with the terrain. It frantically dodges between the feet of beach-goers with the loud, and angry snubbull right on its tail. It darts toward a young boy and climbs into his arms. Bubble attempts to halt his charge and manages to skid to a stop before he could run into the boy’s legs.

“Hey, leave wimpod alone, you ugly mutt!” The boy growls menacingly. He kicks up some sand into Bubble’s face, spooking Bubble into running back to you.

You reach out your arms and catch Bubble as he launches himself at you. You brush the sand from his eyes and shoot a look at the boy.

“You didn’t have to do that.” You say indignantly.

The boy sneers at you, “Well I wouldn’t have had to if you kept that ugly thing away from my boy here.” His stance is tense and mildly threatening but he cradles the scared, little wimpod tenderly in his arms.

You scrunch up your face in annoyance.

“He’s not ugly,” you growl, “If anyone’s ugly, it’s that thing.” You point at the bug Pokemon and it makes a startled ‘peep’.

The boy marches up to you. He’s a bit taller than you so he’s probably a little older than you. His shaggy, white hair falls into his face as he gets up close to yours. You can see anger in his eyes.

“Oh yeah?”

You lean away from him before deciding to steel your nerves and move your face towards his again.

“Yeah.” You say with a slight quiver in your voice.

Before the boy can say anything else, you hear your parents yelling to you. You turn to see your mother coming up behind you.

“Baby, you can’t run off like that.” she scolds you, placing a hand on your shoulder. 

You scowl a bit, you were trying to out tough this mean boy and it didn’t help that your mom had to come and rescue you. “I was just trying to catch Bubble.” you grumble, turning away from the boy.

Your mother fusses with the ribbon in your hair before looking up at the boy and his wimpod.

She smiles, “Hello, dear, I’m so sorry, did Bubble hurt your Pokemon?”

The boy looks away from your mother with a scowl of his own, “No, he’s fine, thanks.”

She places both hands on your shoulders and turns you toward the boy again.

“Now, baby, I want you to apologize to this young man.”

You look up at her in shock. Had she not seen him kick sand in poor Bubble’s face? Why would you apologize to such a rude boy? You begin to tear up a bit out of frustration.

She shoots you a warning look.

You scrunch your face in disgust as you look toward the boy who is now smiling smugly at you. You didn’t want to apologize, you wanted to throw sand in his smug little face. You wipe your eyes.

“I’m sorry that Bubble scared your wimpy.”

His smile turned back to a scowl, “Wimpod.” he corrected.

“Right, I’m sorry.” You smile slyly.

“Come on, love,” your mother says, ushering you in the direction you had come from, “Time to go to your auntie’s house,” She takes your hand and guides you away.

As you walk away with your mother, you look back at the boy. He sees you looking at him and he sticks his tongue out at you. You frown and hope to never see that awful boy again.

******************************************************************************

You’ve spent nearly two weeks in Alola with your family. Despite the rough start, your time in Alola has been a dream. You’ve seen so many new things and met so many new people and Pokemon. You’ve gotten to hang out with your older cousins and auntie. Being in Alola also brought back more memories for your father which he recounted to you. You loved Alola and as the time grew closer for you and your parents to leave, you knew you’d miss this place so much.

On your last day in Alola, you and your family decide to spend the day on the beach. You build sand castles with your cousins, Ava and Cadence, and play in the water with Bubble. Your oldest cousin, Damien, takes you aside to teach you how to fish. After a while, you and Bubble take to digging holes in the sand.

You stand and stretch as you look out at the ocean, enjoying the cool breeze as it gently blows your sundress, making the flower print dance. You feel a little sad knowing today is your last day. Why can’t you and your parents just live here? Your father is a gym leader in your region, but he can always just become a gym leader here, right? And your mother can move her daycare here too.

As you are lost in thought, the growls of Bubble snap you back to reality. You see that Bubble stopped digging and is staring at something. You follow his gaze up to see a small bug Pokemon that you recognize as a Pokemon you father had called ‘charjabug’ standing some feet away.

Uh oh.

Before you can say anything, Bubble is off after the other Pokemon.

“Bubby, come back!” you yell to him, but he is too focused on the Pokemon before him just as you are too focused on him to hear your family calling for you to come back.

You follow as best as you can as the other Pokemon darts off with Bubble right behind it. Both Pokemon are very fast, but you know you can keep up. You’ve always prided yourself in that you were the fastest kid in your class. You also always ran around with Bubble and you could usually catch him, so this should be no problem.

You get so close to Bubble you can almost grab him. Just then, he and the other Pokemon take a sharp turn into the jungle at the end of the beach. You could’ve sworn the jungle had been farther away. You have no time to stop and think about it or you’ll lose him. You follow them into the jungle. You jump over roots and rocks and dodge trees, trying your best to keep your eyes on Bubble.

He dashes and weaves through the trees, just as eager to catch the bug as you are to catch him. He jumps over a large root effortlessly but you fail to follow suit. You trip over the root and fall onto your face with a hard thud. Your forehead stings a little, but you are filled with so much adrenaline that you barely feel it. You shake it off as you jump back to your feet. You quickly look around. You lost sight of Bubble, but you can kind of hear his growling so you try to follow the sound.

After running for a little longer, you’ve finally run out of steam and slow to a stop to catch your breath. You lean against a tree and look around. You can’t hear Bubble anymore. You listen harder, but the only thing you hear is the rustling of the trees and distant calls of wild Pokemon. You look back toward the direction you think you came from but nothing looks familiar. Looking around in all the other directions, you find that nothing is familiar anywhere. You start to panic, breathing fast and pressing your back to the tree. You briefly consider choosing a random direction in hopes that maybe you’ll find the way back to your family but decide against it. Your parents always told you that if you ever got lost to stay where you are and someone would find you. You never thought that place you’d be lost in would be a strange jungle full of wild Pokemon though. The jungle is so big, what if you get hurt? What if a big, wild Pokemon comes and eats you? What if your family never finds you?

You slide your back down the tree until you’re sitting on the ground. A throbbing pain grows on your forehead and you know it’s gonna be a bruise. Your lips quiver and your vision begins to get blurry from tears. After a moment of silence, the stress of your situation finally gets to you and you begin to cry. You bury your face in your hands as you shake with sobs. All you can think about is how much you just want to go home.

You suddenly hear the snap of a twig and look up quickly.

“What are you doing here?”

You jump and stare wide eyed up at the boy from the beach. He’s dirty and a little scraped up like he had been running around out here for a while. He has a large net in one hand while his other hand rests on his hip. His wimpod sits perched on his shoulder and watches you curiously. The boy’s face holds a look of both confusion and annoyance.

“Well?”

You wipe your face, “M-my… Bubb...yyy…” you try to speak but you have a hard time doing so through tears.

“Ugh, talk like a person, you crybaby.” he huffs.

You wipe your face again, trying to compose yourself, “My p-pokemon… Bubble…” You sniffle, “ He ran… i-in here… and I can’t… f-find h-himm…”

“That nasty little subbull?” he scoffs, “He’s probably long gone by now, might as well go back home and just get a new one.”

You stare up at him in disgust. How dare he insist you abandon Bubbles. Maybe pokemon didn’t mean anything to him, but Bubbles is your best friend. You’ve been together since you were a baby and you couldn’t imagine ever being able to replace him.

You want to say this. You want to yell at him for being so mean, but instead you start crying harder.

“Aw geez, c’mon, stop crying you baby.” He rolls his eyes before crouching down in front of you and putting out a hand, “ Let’s go, I’ll take you back to your mom and dad.”

You push his hand away, “I can’t… I can’t leave… my Bubby…” You sniff and sob as you wipe at your face again, slathering your face in tears and snot.

The boy stares at you incredulously, sitting in silence for a moment. “How about this…” he finally sighs, “ I’ll help you look for your dumb pokemon for a while, but if we don’t find him before it gets dark, you go home.”

You look up at him. He holds out his hand again but looks away from you impatiently. Is this his way of being nice?

“Is it a deal or not?” he says, looking irritated.

After a moment of thinking, you take his outstretched hand and he hoists you to your feet. You hiccup and brush off your dress with your free hand before looking back at him and nodding.

“Let’s go then, we don’t have a lot of time.”

He holds onto your hand as he guides you into the jungle. You both look around silently for a while, calling out for Bubble every once in a while. Occasionally, you look at him to see him avoiding looking in your direction. This boy is strange. He acts so rudely, but he offered to take you home and now he’s helping you look for Bubble. Maybe he’s not so mean after all.

Your thoughts are interrupted when you feel something light and tickly brush the hand holding his. You look down to see the boy’s wimpod curiously brushing its antenna across your knuckles.

You yelp in surprise and fear as you quickly pull your hand away, startling both the boy and his pokemon.

He looks back at you confused, “What’s wrong now?”

“B-bug…” you say with a shudder, wiping your hand on your dress in an attempt to make the gross feeling go away.

The boy narrows his eyes at you, “What do you have against bug types?”

“They’re gross.” you reply simply, “They have too many legs and they look scary and they bite.”

“All pokemon bite, you baby.” He plucks the little wimpod off of his arm and brings it closer to you. “Look at him, how can you think he’s scary and gross?”

You back up quickly, nearly tripping on your feet, “No, get it away from me!”

The boy laughs at your reaction before placing the little pokemon back onto his shoulder. “Let’s go, you baby.”

You stare daggers at the back of his head and follow him.

The two of you walk for a while. Occasionally you jump at a noise or you think you see a wild pokemon and he teases you by calling you a baby, but other than that, you walk in relative silence.

“Do you even know where you’re going?” You huff. It feels like you’ve been walking forever and you’ve gotten nowhere.

“I’ve lived on this island my whole life and I come out here all the time,” He scoffs, “I’m not some dumb tourist.”

You fall into silence again. You look around and call out for Bubble with no answer. Your eyes land on the boy’s net.

“What were you doing out here anyways?” you ask.

The boy looks back at you, a little annoyed, “ Wouldn’t you like to know.”

You frown as you both fall silent again.

You hear him let out a dramatic sigh. “I was out here hunting for bug types.”

You scrunch up your face, “Why do you like them so much?”

“Why don’t you?” he counters

“I told you, they’re scary and ugly and they bite.”

“I could say the same thing about your snubbull,” he said matter-of-factly.

You rolled your eyes, “That’s different, he doesn’t have a billion gross legs and he’s not poisonous… or ugly.”

The boy laughed, “No, he’s pretty ugly.”

You scowl again. He’s so rude.

“But not all bug types are poisonous, you know?” He reaches up and strokes wimpod tenderly, “There are so many bug types and they all have unique powers and personalities.”

You raise your eyebrows in disbelief, “Like what?”

He turns to you with a new sparkle in his eyes. It’s almost as though he’s been waiting for someone to ask him forever. You are initially a bit startled at this new side of him, but you find you like it.

As you walk, he tells you many facts about the different bug types. He goes on and on about his personal favorites and where to find them. He is so passionate about this topic. It makes you think that this boy has the potential to be a professor or breeder one day. With every fact, you feel a little less afraid of bug types. You find that with this new understanding you’ve gained a bit more respect for bug types. At one point, you even manage to muster up the courage to pet wimpod.

“Here,” he suddenly stops in front of some tall grass.

“Did you find him?” you ask excitedly, looking around.

“No, but he’s a fairy type, right?” he moves forward into the tall grass, you reach out and grab his shirt as to not lose him as you follow. “Fairy types love flowers and junk, so I thought maybe he ran out here?”

You aren’t too sure about his reasoning, but you don’t care once you break through the grass to see where ‘here’ is.

He leads you to the edge of a wide meadow. Flowers of all colors dot the expanse of the open field. The warm breeze smells sweet. At the edges, you can see some plant pokemon lounging in the shade as well as some pokemon frolicking through the field. 

He leads you out into the field as you look around in wonder.

“What is this place?” you ask in awe.

“I don’t know, but it’s pretty great isn’t it?” He smiles as he guides you. “ It’s a great place to look for bug pokemon.”

You slow your walking a bit at that. You aren’t as afraid of bug types as you were before, but you are still uneasy at the thought of interacting with them.

You both wander the field searching for Bubble, calling out to him with no answer.

You begin to feel tired and anxious. You continue to call for Bubble before you hear a soft buzzing sound. It starts off small but slowly begins to intensify. You stop in your tracks and slowly look up to see a swarm of small bug pokemon hovering around your head. You let out a startled shriek and try to run away from the growing swarm. You see no chance of losing them, so you fall to your knees and cover your head, hoping that they’ll just go away.

You hear laughter and you look up to see the boy crouched in front of you.

“Wow, you really are a big baby, huh?” he laughs.

Your eyes tear up a bit, “It’s not funny, make them stop.” you plead.

The boy lifts a finger into the small swarm, allowing one of the pokemon to gently land before bringing it down to your face.

You flinch and look away for a moment before you slowly turn back to look at it. On the boy’s finger perches a small, fuzzy, yellow bug with big eyes. It looks at you curiously. You hate to say it, but you might actually call it cute.

“This,” he says, “is called a cutiefly.”

You stare in wonder, “Cutiefly,” you repeat.

He smiles, “Something cool about these little guys, is that they can find blooming flowers based on their auras.” 

He takes one of your hands off of your head and places the cutiefly onto it. You tense up and stare wide eyed at the little creature perched on your hand. It stares back for a moment before nuzzling your hand and buzzing back up to the swarm.

“Sometimes,” the boy continues, “they sense people who have auras like flowers.”

You sit up and stare at him, confused.

He rolls his eyes, “They think you’re a flower, dummy.”

Your eyes widen as you look up at the swarm lazily buzzing around your head, occasionally bumping into your head lazily or gently tugging at the ribbon in your hair. You smile wide. They think you’re a flower.

The swarm eventually disperses and you both continue wander through the field for a while before you notice the sun beginning to set.

You look frantically at the boy, “ The sun’s going down.”

He looks up at the sky and looks a bit nervous, “We’ll try a little longer.”

Your searching becomes more and more frantic as the sky begins to darken.

Finally the boy turns to you, “Hey, we won’t be able to get back if it gets any darker.”

“N-no, no,” you reply, avoiding looking at him, “ we just need a little more time.”

“Hey…”

“If we keep looking, we’ll definitely find him, he can’t be that far.”

“Hey…”

“Yeah, maybe we’re not loud enough,” you look into the darkening jungle frantically, “maybe if we’re a little louder he’ll hear us and come out.”

“Hey!”

You turn toward the boy. He looks at you and sadly shakes his head, “We need to go home now,” he says solemnly. 

You stare at him for a moment as you feel the tears welling up in your eyes again. You don’t want to give up, you can’t give up…

Your body begins to shake as you begin to cry. You fall to your knees and cover your face as your body is wracked with sobs. You both stay there for a while before you feel a gentle hand on your shoulder.

“We need to go home now,” He repeats quietly.

You stop crying, your head aching from all the crying you’ve done that day. You nod and let him help you off the ground. He takes your hand and gives it a gentle squeeze before guiding you away.

After walking for a while, you make it out of the jungle just as it gets dark. You remember where your auntie’s house is so he walks you there. You look at the ground in silence as he pulls you along. You and your parents are going home tomorrow and there’s little chance of you coming back anytime soon. You’re never going to see Bubble again.

You make it to your auntie’s house.

Your cousin Damien sits on the front porch looking around before his eyes land on you. He runs to the door and yells into the house for your parents. You watch as your parents rush out of the house and toward you. They lift you up and hug and kiss you. Your mom cries and they both scold you for running off alone for so long before expressing just how happy they are that you’re okay. Your mom fusses over the large bruise on your forehead while your dad looks you over for any other injuries. 

They almost don’t notice the boy standing awkwardly to the side but when they do, they thank him with hugs which he awkwardly accepts.

“Thank you for bringing our baby back safely.” your dad says.

“No problem,” the boy replies.

“What’s your name, sweetheart?” your mom inquires.

You hadn’t even thought until now that you never asked for his name.

“Guzma” he replies simply.

“Well Guzma,” your father said, kneeling in front of the boy, “ As thanks for returning our little girl safe and sound, I want to give you this.”

You father digs into his pocket for a moment and brings forth an odd looking Pokeball. You don’t recognize it, but Guzma stares at it wide eyed. 

“Is that…”

“This, my boy, is a net ball.”

Guzma stares in awe at the odd looking ball in your father’s hand.

“I noticed your net there,” he chuckles, gesturing to the net, “Now I don’t doubt your skill with that thing, just figured you’d want to use something a bit stronger for bug hunting.”

Guzma takes to ball and cradles it in his hands as though it were a precious relic.

“Thank you,” Guzma says quietly.

As they complete their interaction, your mother kneels in front of you and continues to smother you.

“Baby, have you been crying?” She wipes your face which is covered in dried tear streaks.

“I lost Bubble,” You whimper defeatedly, not looking up from the ground.

Your mother sighs and pulls you into a hug, “Oh, baby, I’m so sorry.”

You feel your mother shift as she looks up at your father, “Is there anything we can do?”

“I’m not sure,” your father sighs, “We leave tomorrow afternoon, we won’t have time to search for him before then.”

Your mom lowers her face to yours and lifts your chin, “Listen, baby, we’ll talk to you auntie and maybe see if she and your cousins will be able to look for Bubble after we leave and they can send him back to us when they do, how about that?”

You look down and shrug.

Your parents thank Guzma again and begin to head inside. Before you go to follow, you turn to Guzma and smile sadly at him. He gives you a look of pity in return.

“Thank you for helping me get home and for helping me look for Bubble.” you turn away from him and slowly trudge your way into your auntie’s house for the night.

******************************************************************************

The sun sits high in the sky that afternoon as you and your parents say your goodbyes on the dock. You and you parents make sure that all of your things are accounted for and they are with the exception of one. You came to Alola with a full heart and you will be leaving empty handed. You knew you’d be sad to leave, but this isn’t how you imagined it being like. 

Your parents each rest a hand on your shoulder in reassurance that Bubble will come up eventually. You want to believe them.

Just as you and your parents are about to board, you look at the dock one more time. Your eyes spot a head of white hair darting through the crowd. Guzma shouts and runs toward you, in his hands, a mildly disheveled but otherwise unharmed snubbull. 

You pull yourself away from your parents and run toward Guzma. You feel tears in your eyes again, but this time they’re tears of joy. You stop short of crashing into Guzma and eagerly snatch Bubble from his arms.

“Bubby, my Bubby!” you cry as Bubble whimpers and licks you. He seems just as relieved to see you as you are to see him.

You look over at Guzma who looks pretty proud of himself.

“How did you find him?” You say, smiling brightly.

Guzma scratches his head, “It was nothing, I went early morning bug hunting and kinda happened across the ugly little guy.”

Looking at him closely, you can see bags under his eyes, almost as though he didn’t get enough sleep. You feel like maybe he isn’t being completely honest with you, but you smile anyways.

You keep one arm around Bubble as you throw the other around Guzma, “Thank you so much.”

He seems startled but accepts the hug, “Yeah, whatever.”

You pull away, “I don’t have a cool pokeball or money to give you as a thank you,” you confess.

“Really, it’s okay, I don’t need anything else,” Guzma says, holding his hands up.

“But I wanna give you something.” You insist.

You dig your hand around in your pockets finding nothing but seashells and a couple coins. You reach up and scratch your head for a moment as you think about what you could possibly give him. Your hand brushes against the ribbon in your hair.

“Oh, here,” you pull the sparkling, red ribbon from your hair and offer it to him, “my favorite ribbon.”

He stares down at it, scrunching his nose, “Um, no thank you?”

“I don’t have anything else I could give you,” you think for a moment, “except maybe a kiss?”

Guzma’s eyes flash wide and his face turns pink as he snatches to ribbon from your hands, “Fine, I’ll take the dumb ribbon.”

You giggle and smile triumphantly.

Guzma stuffs the ribbon in his pocket and runs his fingers through his hair, “Do you know when you’ll be visiting again?”

You look down and tap the toe of your shoe on the ground, “I dunno.”

You both stand silently for a moment.

“I’ll tell you what,” You say, “when I do come back, we can have a play date.”

He looks up at you hopefully, “Yeah?”

You smile, “Yeah.”

“Come on now, sweetheart,” you hear your mother call.

You give Guzma one last hug. He holds you there for a moment before finally letting go saying, “Goodbye, flower girl.”

As the ship leaves the dock, you look down from the railing to see your family waving you and your parents off. Among them, a young boy with white hair and scraped knees waves to you too.

You’ll come back one day, you promise.


	2. Spring

You can’t believe how long it’s been. Last time you saw Alola was when you were a young girl and now, years later as an adult, you’re ready to see the islands you loved so much again. You had wanted to visit Alola again a lot sooner, but the cost of the trip, the distance, and the news from your auntie about the increase in gang activity kept you and your family from making the trip. You’re happy that you’ll finally be able to go back but unlike your last visit, however, you would be making the trip alone.

You sit in the back seat of your parents’ car, staring out of the window. Your Granbull, Bubble, sighs as he lays his large head calmly on your lap while you stroke it absentmindedly.

Your mom looks back at you from the passenger seat and reaches a hand back to touch your knee. “You nervous, baby?”

You look back at her and smile, “A little, but I think I’ll be alright.”

Your mom smiles reassuringly and pats your leg. “Just let me know if you wanna change your mind and we’ll head right back home,” she says before turning back around.

You can’t go home. You’ve already made up your mind. Some of your friends had gone off to be Pokemon trainers at the age of ten, but you decided that wasn’t the life for you. You decided to go to school for a while to study Pokemon and become a professor, but, as interesting as it all was, you felt that it wasn’t your calling either. In the end, you moved back home with your parents and helped your mother run her daycare, and as fun as it was, it wasn’t what you wanted to do either. You were lost.You didn’t know what you wanted to do with your life. It seemed that you’d have to settle for working at the daycare until your auntie called up your family sharing the news of the disbandment of the local gang, bringing safety back to Alola. She had asked when you and your parents could visit again, but your parents sadly were too busy and didn’t have the funds to get all of you to Alola and back. You were severely disappointed until your auntie thought up the idea that maybe you could come stay with her in Alola for a year. Her two oldest children had moved out, so there was enough room for a long stay, and you could work in the family store. You were delighted. You saw this as an opportunity, not only to go to Alola again like you’d dreamed, but also as a fresh environment to gain your footing and maybe find your calling. You took up her offer in a heartbeat.

As confident as you had felt in the days leading up to now, you can’t help but feel a bit anxious now that the day to leave is here. You’ve never traveled alone before and you can’t fight the voice of doubt in the back of your mind telling you that you might not find what you’re looking for. What if the voice is right? What if you go out to Alola and you don’t find your calling? What if this venture is all a waste of time?

A loud huff snaps you out of your thoughts. You look down at Bubble who you had been petting very roughly while you were lost in your anxious mind.

You smile apologetically down at Bubble, “Sorry Bubs.”

He snorts in reply and closes his eyes again. You appreciate how he puts up with so much from you. You’re glad that he’s coming along with you too, you’re not sure how you’d cope without him.

You look out the window to see the ocean. Just a few more minutes until you’ll be at the docks and saying goodbye to your home for a whole year. The thought makes you excited and scared at the same time, but you’re not about to back down now.

After a while, you and your parents make it to the docks. Watching people rushing back and forth along the docks brings back memories of when you set off for Alola for the first time. You smile to yourself as your parents collect your bags from the car and usher you toward your boat.

As you walk, your parents each talk a mile a minute going on and on to remember to wear sunscreen when going to the beach and to watch out for strangers and to not be afraid to give them a call if you decide you want to go home. You give them repeated “Okays” and “Alrights” as they continue to hit you with their barrage of anxious orders and reminders. You love them so much.

“Did we already say that I’d come and get you if you ever wanted to come home early?” you dad repeated for the fiftieth time today.

“Yes dad, and that if for some reason you couldn’t catch a boat. You’d swim there yourself,” you chuckle, “And I would meet you halfway.”

Your dad smiles and pulls you into a hug, “That’s my girl.”

You hug your mom next and holds her as she trembles slightly.

She pulls away a little to look into your eyes with her tear filled ones. “You stay safe and call often.”

“Of course.”

You finally make it onto the boat after your long and tearful goodbyes to your parents. You feel a tug in your chest as you watch your parents wave to you from the dock as your boat pulls away. Bubble leans against you and you rest a hand on his head. Once your parents are out of sight, you and Bubble make your way to the front of the boat to take in the wide expanse of the ocean. You close your eyes as the cool sea breeze blows across your face.

You are ready for a new adventure.

*****************************************************************************

After hours on the ocean, you are ecstatic to finally see land. Your eyes sparkle as you take in the view of the island. You can’t help but recall the feeling of when you saw Alola for the first time. It is just as magical as it was back then.

You gather your things as the boat docks and make your way toward a young woman holding a large, sparkly sign with your name on it sticking out of the crowd. You smile brightly as you walk up to your cousin Cadence. Her eyes are bright and wild with joy as she squeals and throws herself at you. You catch her, stumbling back about a foot, and return her embrace.

She was the youngest of your cousins, closest to you by age with only two years on you. While her older brother had gone off to another region to study Pokemon and her sister had run off to become a trainer, she had opted to stay at home and help her mother run the family store which she would one day inherit herself. You two had been like two peas in a pod as kids so you’re glad she stuck around.

“My baby cousin, how are you, how was the trip?” She fusses over you, cupping your face in her hands.

“The trip was good and I’m not a baby,” you reply, wriggling away from her grasp. You look around, “Where’s auntie?”

Cadence gathers your things and starts to pack them into the truck, “She’s running the store right now,” She grunts as she heaves a particularly large bag into the bed of the truck, “She asked me to come get you and bring you straight to the house to settle in.”

You help her pack up the last of your bags and you, Cadence, and Bubble climb into the truck, “But we’re not going straight to the house, are we?” you raise an eyebrow.

“Of course not, who do you think I am, my mom?” She laughs heartily, “No, we’re going to get you some malasadas and do some sight-seeing.”

“Malasadas?” You remember having them last time you visited, and they were delicious, but you failed to understand why it was so important that you go get some right now.

“There’s this place not too far from here that’s gonna be selling a special flavor for a limited time.” she explained, “They only have it once a month and you weren’t able to try it last time you came here.”

You raise your eyebrows in interest.

Cadence suddenly looks at you very serious, “Today is the last day to get them until next month.”

Your eyes widen. You could miss this chance to have a rare treat on your first day in Alola. “Well what are we doing sitting around here for?” You point forward, “Let’s go get those malasadas!”

“Hell yeah!” Cadence exclaims as the car shoots forward.

You all race as fast as legally possible to the shop in question. Cadence parks in front of the shop and you leave Bubble to nap in the truck. You and Cadence make your way through the people swarming around the place happily snacking on their “mythic malasadas,” as your cousin called them. You can’t wait to be one with the happy crowd.

Inside the shop, a decent sized line stands before you. You take up a spot behind a rather tall young man and await your prized treat. You think back to your first malasada and how magical it had been. Last time you visited, you insisted on trying all of the flavors. You weren’t able to pick a favorite, they were all so good. You couldn’t wait to get your hands on this elusive new malasada.

You are almost too lost in your dreamy thoughts to notice your cousin staring ahead, her posture a bit tense.

“Hey, no need to be so anxious,” you say teasingly, “They’ll probably have at least one malasada left for us to split by the time we make it to the front.”

She suddenly grabs your arm and pulls you closer to her, not breaking her eyes away from the man in front of you.

“What is it?” you whisper nervously. Cadence has always been a cheerful, mischievous girl, not one to take things seriously most of the time, so her suddenly serious demeanor scares you a little.

“That guy,” she subtly gestures forward with her head, “That’s the leader of that gang that disbanded not too long ago.”

You look forward to observe him. You can’t see his face from where you are so you can’t see if his features match his stature, but he is intimidatingly tall despite his hunched posture. His white hair is shaggy above the black hair of his undercut. What stands out most, now that you look at him, is his jacket which looks like it once had a skull-like symbol on it, but it had been crossed out with red tape.

Cadence sneers. “What is this jerk doing here?” she hisses under her breath, “Doesn’t he have some other decent folk to harass?”

You can’t help but feel startled by her hostility towards this guy. You don’t know what he or his notorious gang had done before you got here, but if your cousin’s attitude is anything to go by, you feel maybe you should avoid him.

Cadence’s eyes don’t break from the guy and her grasp on your arm doesn’t loosen as the line continues forward. Your cousin’s tenseness causes you to feel secondhand fear and you can’t wait to get your malasada and get out of there.

It feels like an eternity before it’s finally the man’s turn in line. Looking past him, you can see the young lady at the counter is visibly uncomfortable and nervous in the man’s presence. You can’t quite make out what he says to the girl as he takes to mumbling his order. The girl’s nervous smile falters for a moment and she looks like she wants to say something before she decides against it, nods, and hands the man a large, full looking paper bag. He pays and gives her a nod. He turns and you get a better look at his face. You can’t tell if he’s sneering or if that’s just how he looks. His eyes are grey and droopy and there are bags under them as though he hasn’t had a full night’s rest in ages. He doesn’t look very friendly, you can see why people are so intimidated by him, but a part of you can’t help but note that he’s not all that bad looking. If he didn’t look so mean, you might even call him cute.

He pauses for a moment, his eyes landing on you and your cousin. He glares at her for a moment before looking you over. His eyes linger on you for an uncomfortably long moment before he looks away and continues out of the shop.

As he exits the shop, Cadence loosens back up. She shudders, “Ugh, what a creep, am I right?”

You, unsure of how to respond, simply nod.

“Well, now that he’s not here to sour the atmosphere anymore, let’s get you some mythic malasadas.”

“I’m sorry ma’am,” the lady at the counter chimes in, "but that young man just bought the last of the mythic malasadas.”

Cadence’s face drops, “Pardon?”

“We’re all out,” the lady replies apologetically, “He got the last batch.”

The rollercoaster of emotions that you watch Cadence go through is enough to give you whiplash. Shock, confusion, sadness, defeat, anger, unbridled fury. Without a word, Cadence storms off out of the shop. You apologize quickly to the young woman before following your cousin. As you leave the line, you hear several voices of disappointment as everyone learns the bad news. You walk quickly to keep up with her and plead with her to stop as she angrily stalks toward the ex gang leader.

“Hey, asshole!” Cadence called out angrily.

Why is she being so stupid? Why is she being so stupid? Why is she being so stupid?

The guy turns around, looking unbothered by the angry young woman before him. He raises an eyebrow, “May I help you, miss?”

“Who do you think you are?” She marches up to him fuming. She’s a whole head shorter than him.

“I don’t think I know what you mean.” He replies, an amused glint in his eye.

“We were waiting for those,” Cadence gestures toward the bag in the guy’s hand, “and you just up and bought all of them?”

You stand nervously behind your cousin and grab her arm, “Just leave it, we can just wait another month.”

“No,” Cadence barks, “ I promised you a malasada, you are getting a malasada.” She points accusingly at the guy, “He’s probably not even gonna eat all of those.”

The guy chuckles, “You oughta listen to your friend, mind your business and wait for your own,” His smile fades, “though, I guess minding your own business isn’t a skill of yours.”

Cadence glares at the guy but says nothing.

“Yeah, you think I don’t have ears? That I don’t hear what you and the other locals whisper ‘bout me behind my back?” He sneers, “You should be glad that it was only your precious malasadas that you lost.”

“What is that supposed to mean?” Cadence growls.

You feel like Cadence is looking for a fight. Not a battle, but an actual fist fight. Not that you question her physical capabilities, she’s a pretty strong girl, but compared to this guy you firmly believe he could chuck her right into the ocean if he wanted to. You need to diffuse this situation.

“Cadence, really, this is unnecessary,” you plead desperately, “Please, just drop it.”

She looks at you. She seems to finally notice your discomfort and her anger softens. “Yeah,” she sighs, “yeah, alright, let’s go.” She turns and gently links arms with you, “He probably contaminated that batch anyways, we can wait a month for a fresh one.”

As you both begin to walk away, you hear him quietly mumble, so quiet you almost miss it, “Dumb bitch.”

You tense up. Please, say she didn’t hear. You turn to look at your cousin. Her eyes burn with anger. She’s gone.

She releases your arm and storms back up to the guy. Your stomach drops as you watch her shove him, nearly making him drop his bag, and start spewing angry profanities at him. His dismissive stance becomes defensive as he straightens his posture to stand at his full height. A look of annoyance and disgust crosses his features as he retaliates by knocking Cadence down with one rough shove.

“I don’t know who you think you are, girl, but no one pushes ya boy around like that,” he barks.

Without thinking, you move forward so that you’re standing between the angry tall man and your angry small cousin who seems to be unhurt but a bit stunned from the fall. “Don’t you touch her anymore!”

The man growls, “Maybe if you kept that bitch on a leash, there wouldn’t be an issue.”

“Maybe if you weren’t such an ass, people wouldn’t hate you,” you snap back. You try to keep a brave face, but you’ve always been terrified of confrontation. You feel your body trembling.

His eyes go dark with anger and the fear begins to take hold, but you can’t back down.

“You say I’m the ass here?” He says in a low, threatening tone. He steps up closer to you so that his face is inches from yours, “You should learn to hold your tongue, sweetheart, because tough words like that can get you into some serious trouble.”

You feel tears begin to well up in your eyes and your body shakes with fear, but you manage to hold yourself together and stand your ground. “I’m not afraid of you,” you say, your voice shaking a bit more than you intended.

He stands there for what feels like an eternity before a smile begins to spread across his face. He begins to chuckle before breaking out into laughter. You watch him, confused, as he continues to laugh at seemingly nothing for a moment. You are almost certain this guy is crazy.

His laughing fit begins to die down, “Wow, you are so weird,” he wipes an eye, “Unlike your dumb friend there, you know you can’t take me in a fight yet here you are, standing up to the big, bad gang leader with that cute little determined look.”

You stand there, dumbfounded, “C-cute?…” you reply, unsure of how else to respond.

He smiles and shakes his head, mumbling ‘I’m not afraid of you” in a light mocking tone and chuckling to himself. He reaches into his bag and tosses one of it’s contents to you. Without hesitation, you catch the object. You look down to see a malasada in your hands. You look up at him with a bewildered expression. He takes another malasada out of his bag and takes a bite.

He looks you up and down and gives you an amused smile before shooting you a wink, “Hope to see you around.”

He turns and slinks away, his posture once again hunched but he seems somehow more relaxed. What just happened?

You shake the shivers off and go to help your cousin off the ground. She still looks a bit mad, but she also seems to be just as confused as you. 

“What was that?” you ask yourself, your cousin, and whoever else might have an answer.

“I… don’t know,” Cadence answers as brushes the dust from her shorts as you both watch after the young man until he’s out of sight.

After standing in silence for a minute, you turn to Cadence and punch her arm.

“Ow, what?” She shoots you a look.

“Don’t you ever do that dumb shit again, you could’ve gotten hurt!” You give her another jab across the arm, “I don’t care how much of a jerk he is or was or how much you hate him, he is huge and you can’t fight him.” You continue to throw punches at her between words.

She blocks your blows.“Stop it, I get it, I was just angry and I’m sorry I made you worry.”

You sigh heavily and place your face tiredly into your hands, still shaking from the stress of the whole situation, “Why are you so dumb?”

Cadence goes up to you and wraps her arms around you, “I’m sorry.” She holds you for a moment before looking down at the pastry in your hand, “Did he call you cute and just give you a malasada?”

You look at the malasada too, turning it in your hand as you observe it, “Yeah. that was… unexpected.” you stare at it, thinking, “Maybe he’s got a sweet side to him?”

“Ew, sweet as salt maybe” Cadence scrunches her face, “I’ll forgive you for that statement since you weren’t around to experience the chaos that was him and his gang.”

You roll your eyes as you both begin to walk back toward the truck. That was a wild experience for your first day in Alola. You push over a still sleeping Bubble and hop into the truck. As you begin your ride toward your auntie’s house, you look at the malasada again. That guy was so strange. He was absolutely terrifying, yet there was something about him that seemed kinda familiar. His sudden 360° from aggression to amusement had really thrown you for a loop, but it reminded you of something that you couldn’t quite put your finger on.

“You thinkin’ about eating that?”

You jump as your cousin’s voice brings you back to reality, “Oh, uh…”

“Because I want to tell you that you probably shouldn’t accept his gift,” she says, keeping her eyes on the road, “but it’s free food.”

You think back to your comment earlier, maybe he’s not all that bad. You smile, “Of course I’m gonna eat it, I won’t get another chance to for another month.”

You take a bite. Oh yeah, this one is your favorite.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm so glad people are liking my story so far! Thank you so much <3 <3 <3 
> 
> This chapter is a lot shorter than the first one (I've been a busy with life stuffs) but I'm hoping the next chapter will be a bit longer. Still getting the hang of it all, but I hope everyone reading this is enjoying it.


	3. Seeds

You’ve been working in your auntie’s for about 2 weeks now. It’s not a big store, just a little mom n’ pop convenience store. After settling in your auntie immediately put you to work as promised. She taught you the ropes on how to run a store from working in the back taking stock to working up front with the customers. It all went so fast you barely had time to absorb all the information before getting thrown out onto the floor. Despite speed running your training, you felt confident in your ability to help with the store. It also helped that your cousin was there to hold your hand and guide you when you were lost on what to do. 

Most days in the shop, you’d get a good stream of people passing through. However, on Sunday it is particularly slow. Being as slow as it is, your auntie decides to run a couple errands while she leaves you and your cousin to hold down the fort.

“Cadence is in charge, if no one comes in after 5 feel free to close up shop and head home.” your auntie orders as she collects her things to head out.

You and your cousin give the affirmative as your auntie briskly walks out the door. As soon as she’s gone Cadence lets out a loud sigh and flops her body over the counter.

“Ugh, it’s so boring in here.” she complains loudly. “It’s like this every Sunday and I don’t know how much longer I can take it.”

You roll your eyes at your cousin’s dramatic display, “Won’t this be your shop one day?”

She looks up at you, “Yeah, and when I’m the boss,” she lifts her hands and slowly moves them through the air, “we close on Sundays.”

You chuckle, “Well miss ‘boss’, we have another hour before we can close so you best find something to keep yourself occupied until then.”

She lets out another loud sigh as she forces herself up off the counter. Just as you two are about to start doing whatever there is to do, the front door bursts open causing the jingling bell over the door to rattle violently. A young woman around you and Cadence’s age runs up to Cadence at the counter looking out of breathe. 

“Cadence!” the girl yells, “Cadence, Moon is down the street about to do a battle!”

“What, no way!” Cadence yells in excitement.

“Moon?” You ask.

Your cousin looks over at you in disbelief, “Well she’s only the young prodigy Pokemon champion of Alola and hero of the people!”

Before you can respond, the girl grabs Cadence’s hand, “We gotta go now or we’ll miss it!”

Cadence begins to follow before stopping in her tracks, “Oh, uh, but the store…” She looks over at you with pleading eyes.

“I’ve got the store,” you sigh, “Go meet your hero.”

Cadence runs over to you and gives you a big hug before darting out of the store with her friend, yelling out, “I owe you one!” before the doors shut.

You sit alone in the store with not much to do. You take stock, you count the money in the register, and you wait at the counter some more. You get bored there and wander through the store again. As you wander, you step in a sticky spot on the floor. Finally, something to do. You go get the mop from the back and get to work. The silence gets a bit too much for you so you pop on your headphones and jam out as you mop. Your mop soon becomes your dance partner as you waltz through the aisles listening to your favorite song, blissfully humming along. You are so lost in the music that you almost don’t notice the figure leaning against the counter in the front. The sudden presence startles you and you let out a yelp as you slip and fall flat on your butt.

The person laughs as you scramble back up and take off your headphones. It takes you a moment to recognize this person was not a regular customer. It was that gang leader. He was leaning nonchalantly against the counter just watching you for who knows how long and you didn’t even know. As dangerous as your cousin and auntie lead you to believe he is, it’s very unnerving to now be alone with him. You do take a mental note that if he had wanted to hurt you or steal anything, he probably would have done so already, but he looks empty handed.

He suddenly begins to clap, “Bravo,” he chuckles, “what a performance.”

“Can I help you?” you know you’re blushing from the embarrassment of having had a surprise audience.

“Uh no, I just popped in here to grab a couple things but I couldn’t help but stick around for the show.” He smiled mischievously.

You frown, still blushing, “How long have you been there?”

“Long enough,” He replies as moves from his spot at the counter to saunter toward you. 

You step aside as he walks past you.

“Well that was fun but I’m just gonna get my shopping done, if you don’t mind sweetness.” He winks at you before turning to peruse the aisles. 

You quickly place down a wet floor sign before rushing back to your spot at the counter. You watch him attentively as his eyes scan the merchandise. Part of you claims it’s to make sure he doesn’t steal anything, but another part of you can’t help but simply admire his features. As afraid of him as you’ve come to be, you still find he’s rather attractive. In a way, watching him stalk around feels like admiring a dangerous but beautiful wild Pokemon from a distance. His grey eyes dart back and forth as he searches for what he wants. His large hand ruffles his fluffy hair as he scratches it. You can’t help but wonder what his hair feels like.

“I’m not gonna steal anything if that’s what you’re watching for.” He suddenly pipes up.

You jump a little and look away. You shouldn’t be having these thoughts, he’s bad news and not something you need to be getting into. Since your first encounter, your cousin and auntie have caught you up on the whole situation with him. You know he was an aggressive gang leader of a notorious gang called team skull. They were known for vandalizing property, assaulting people, and stealing Pokemon. You cousin told you he even had a hand in helping some corrupt organization nearly destroy the island. With each new bit of information, you grew more fearful of him and more understanding as to why some of the locals held such a negative opinion of him.

You return to your senses as he places two sodas and some Pokemon food onto the counter. You cautiously take the items and scan them, keeping him in your peripherals as to not let your guard down. He’s just staring at you. It’s very unnerving.

“So, what’s a dame like you doin’ workin’ the counter at some little shop in Alola?” he says, breaking the silence between you. “I mean, I certainly don’t mind seeing pretty new faces every once in a while, but you’re not a regular tourist are ya?”

You don’t respond.

He looks mildly annoyed for a moment, “Not much of a conversationalist are ya, doll?”

“That’ll be P1000” you say quietly, not looking at him directly.

“Ya know it’s rude to not look at the customer during a transaction, right?” He says matter-of-factly.

You work up the courage to meet his gaze and boy is he tall. He smiles down at you but it doesn’t seem sincere. More like a smile of triumph after getting what he wanted. He seems to find amusement in this situation and possibly your discomfort. What a jerk.

“That’ll be P1000.” you repeat a bit more forcefully.

His smile falters a moment at your tone as he pulls out a few crumpled dollars from his pocket and holds it out to you. You cautiously move to grab the money and your hand accidentally brushes his. In this short moment of contact, you notice his hands are warm and his skin is rough as though he worked with them a lot. This small touch makes you jump and you drop the money on the counter. He seems a little startled at this action, you might almost say he looks a bit hurt for a moment. You feel bad as you quickly pick the money back up, finish the transaction, and hand him his bagged items.

He takes his items, a slight scowl on his face, and turns to leave without a word.

“Th-thanks for stopping by, please come again!” you call out as you were trained to do.

He huffs, “Whatever.”

Shame makes your stomach turn and with only ten minutes left until closing, you decide to call it a day. You close up shop, leaving a note for your cousin that you’ve headed home. As you walk, you think about him again. He seemed so amused by your discomfort but seemed hurt by your actions in relation to your fear. You would think he’d be used to that reaction from the locals. Oh no, should anyone be made to feel used to that reaction? If you were in his shoes, the way everyone treated you would bring you to tears. Sure he had done some pretty horrible things in the past, but you have yet to see him act in that way now. Everyone is so stuck on who he used to be, how are they gonna expect him to change for the better if they keep treating him like the gang leader he was? If you keep treating him like that?

You make it home and trudge your way up to your room. Bubble is lounging on your bed with a toy when you walk in and he hops up to greet you. You drop to your knees and wrap your arms around the granbull.

“Bubble,” you sigh, “am I a bad person?”

The Pokemon seems confused but snuggles you in return.

“If I ever see him again, I should apologize,” You continue before getting up and flopping onto your bed, “,though I don’t blame him if he never stops by again.”

Bubble hops onto the bed and lays down next to you as to comfort you. You pat his head as the shame rolls around yours until you fall asleep.

*****************************************************************************

You’re six again. You wander through the dark jungle, calling out for someone, anyone, to find you. You hear the rustle of the trees and the call of distant Pokemon. You don’t know where you are or how you got there. Everything is strange and twisted and unfamiliar. You cry loudly as the darkness seems to envelop you. Suddenly, you notice a small buzzing Pokemon, small enough to hold in your hand, fluttering by. The sight of it seems to calm you and you feel less afraid. Something about it gives off a sense of familiarity, you know what this is but you can’t remember. It begins to fly away and you give chase as not to lose sight of it.

“Wait, come back!” you call out, “Don’t leave me alone!”

The Pokemon does not react or answer your calls. It drifts and weaves through the branches above you gracefully before taking a dive as it swoops low to the ground and through some tall grass. You follow, tearing through the grass with your small hands, not sure what’s on the other side, but not caring so long as you don’t lose that Pokemon. You break through the grass, the sun blinding you for a moment before you are able to take in the view. A lush meadow spreads out before you, Pokemon play in the flowers and several of those small buzzing Pokemon dot the air. You walk out into the field and feel a rush of comfort as well as something else… something about this place feels familiar…

A small swarm of the little yellow Pokemon buzz around your head which would normally scare you, but for some reason you’re not afraid. You hear laughter somewhere. You look around and see a figure in the distance. Another child? You walk toward the child, the Pokemon buzzing lazily around you as you make your way there. You see the child from behind. It seems to be a boy somewhere around your age with a mess of fluffy, white hair and dirty clothes. He’s playing with a small silver bug Pokemon and doesn’t seem to notice you behind him.

“Excuse me?” you say shyly.

The boy pauses and turns toward you slightly though not enough to see his face.

“Do I know you?” you ask curiously.

The boy chuckles, “You really don’t remember me, do you?” He stands up and brushes the flower petals off of his pants, “Well, that’s okay, so long as you’re here now.”

As he turns to you, the cutieflies, oh that’s what they’re called, swarm in front of you, cutting off your view of his face. You can no longer see him, but you can see his hand outstretched, waiting for yours.

“Let’s get you home,” he says warmly.

You don’t think he can see you, but you smile. At this moment, you don’t think you’ve ever felt safer. Just as you reach for him…

*****************************************************************************

You wake up feeling groggy like you just woke up from a thousand year sleep. You stretch and look over at the clock. It’s nearly four in the morning. You must have been passed out for so long. You only meant to take a quick nap. You are honestly surprised your auntie or cousin didn’t wake you up for dinner. You see Bubble curled up on the end of your bed sound asleep. You get up slowly so as not to disturb him and make your way to the bathroom. Might as well get ready for the day since you’re up anyways. You get dressed, brush your teeth, do your hair, and go through your usual morning routine. You figure your family is still sleeping so you quietly head downstairs to make yourself some breakfast. You make your way to the fridge and notice a note on it.

“Hey cousin” it read, “Mama had some business out of town and left late last night. She left me in charge and as the boss for the day I decree that it is our day off!” A small smiley face and balloons are doodled in the margins and you smile. The note continues, “I will be hanging out with some friends today. You’re free to join us if you want, but if not, the world is your cloyster, go enjoy your first day off. Love, your favorite cousin.”

More hearts and smiley faces speckle the note. You grab some cereal and take a seat as you think of how you can spend your day. As you munch, you vaguely remember having a dream last night. Something about kids? The jungle? Flowers? You can’t fully remember but whatever it was, you remember feeling calm and happy. You hope to have that dream again because before that, you either had anxiety filled dreams or no dreams at all, so this is a nice change. Your mom is a big believer in dream symbolism, though you never understood it yourself, but you do occasionally humor the idea that dreams hold some sort of meaning. If only you remembered more. Oh well.

You feel a nudge on your side and turn to see Bubble looking up at you.

“Hey Bubs, did I wake you?” You pat his head and he yawns. “I’ll get you some breakfast since we’re both up and I can take you on a walk, sound good?”

Bubble’s tail wags at the notion and you get him his food.

After breakfast, you leave a note for Cadence and head out. At this point, the sun has just started to rise and you can hear the first Pokemon of the day waking up. The morning air is a bit chilly but it’s also refreshing. You decide to head down to the beach to take in the ocean view. Working in the store hasn’t left you a whole lot of time to simply take in the sights. As nice as it was to be doing something productive, you wish it could be something you could see yourself doing long term.

You let Bubble run around the beach as you take a seat in the sand. You stare into the horizon and think about your life. Every opportunity you’ve been handed, from taking your own champion journey to running a shop, just hasn’t clicked for you. You’ve thought a lot about who you want to be and what you’d want to do, but can never decide exactly what it is that would make you happiest. All of the professions you explored would leave you at least content, but you want something fulfilling. Sometimes you feel you should simply settle with the hand you’re dealt, but a part of you still wants to search for where you fit in.

A figure passes behind you, strolling along the beach and you absentmindedly look toward it. It takes you a moment to realize it’s him, the guy. He doesn’t seem to realize he’s passed you. You shoot up into a standing position. You wanted to apologize, this is your chance. You move toward him, but pause. Despite feeling bad about what happened, you are still a bit afraid. You don’t want to make him any more upset than you probably already have. You two are alone on the beach as well, who’s to say this isn’t where he’ll finally snap? No, don’t think like that, he’s a person. You feel more ashamed for thinking like that, but the feeling remains. He’s getting farther away.

“H-hey!” you call out.

He turns to you, looking surprised. You see him look you over for a moment before recognizing you and frowning, “Oh, you.”

You stand awkwardly for a moment, not sure what to say at this point. “Um… I… uh…”

He shakes his head and calls back, “I ain’t got all day, doll, say what you’re gonna say or don’t say shit.”

You fidget with your hands and look down. You’re so nervous, why is it so hard to apologize? To talk to him?

He looks annoyed and turns to walk away.

You look up with wide eyes, you may not get this chance again. “I’m sorry!”

He turns and looks confused, “What?” he calls out.

You straighten up, “I’m sorry… for how I acted… at the store?”

He stands there for a moment before walking back toward you.

You are still nervous, but you stand your ground, shaking the slightest bit.

He’s now about about a foot away from you. He stares down at you, scanning your face. What’s he looking for?

“Mind sharing what exactly you’re sorry for?” he inquires, raising an eyebrow.

“I-I mean, I’m sorry for being so rude… yesterday…” Your words trail off.

You look away, still unable to look into his eyes. You didn’t think this encounter would be this nerve wracking. What makes it worse is his lack of reaction to your apology. He doesn’t seem angry, or happy, or even annoyed. He’s just staring at you. You feel like a prey Pokemon sitting helplessly in the sights of a predator Pokemon.

It feels like an eternity before he finally speaks, “Look, I know you know who I am and what I’ve done and I shouldn’t have bothered you.” he begins, “I’ve done some pretty messed up shit in the past.”

You look up at him and see that, although his face seems emotionless, his eyes are sad and tired.

“The locals absolutely hate my guts, for good reason,” he continues, “I’m not a good person and I don’t need some tourist like you pitying me.”

He backs away and you can finally breathe, “I-I didn’t mean…”

“I’m not blind, I can see you’re afraid of me, you don’t need to force yourself to talk to me when you are obviously just as uncomfortable with me as everyone else.” He turns away, “Just do us both a favor, girl, and just stay out of my way like the rest of ‘em.”

He begins to walk down the beach again. That can’t be it, can it? You don’t feel like you’ve made anything better after this interaction. He may be right that you’re afraid, but you’ve never let fear stop you from doing the right thing.

“You’re not a bad person!” you call out.

He pauses but doesn’t turn around.

“Yeah, you’ve made some bad choices in the past, but… but that doesn’t mean you should be treated like you’re still that person!” You yell, “Everyone deserves a chance to grow and change for the better!”

He stands there for a moment before continuing to walk again.

You watch him walk down the beach out of sight. Bubble trots up to you looking for pats. You oblige as you think to yourself how strange this guy is. In the short time you’ve been here, you’ve already run into him three times. If that’s anything to go by, you feel like “staying out of his way” will be fairly tough. You’re not sure if you completely mind that though. Your mind thinks back to your dream though you can’t figure out why.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Meant to post yesterday. but life happens I suppose. This chapter is longer than the last one and hopefully a much better read. I also wanna say thank you for all the kudos and I hope that you all enjoy my work <3 <3 <3


	4. Sprout

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I just wanna say thank you for all the kudos and comments (I read and cry over every one).
> 
> I'm actually really glad people are enjoying my writing despite it being my first try. I will probably slow down on uploads due to work and starting back in school but I'll do my best to write this story to the best of my abilities and as regularly as possible
> 
> Again, thank you <3 <3 <3.
> 
> Edit; Hello, I've returned and edited a few things here and will be returning with an actual new chapter soon!

Another couple of weeks have passed. You and your cousin have bugged your auntie about letting you two have Sundays off and she finally broke. The store is still open and you’d be on call if needed, but you have otherwise earned your freedom. This Sunday, you and Cadence decide to celebrate by going out shopping. You hop the ferry to MeleMele island and head into the city to check out all of her favorite spots. Bubble has been pretty cooped up in the house except for when you take walks before work so you decide to take him along with you. You both seem to enjoy all the sights and smells of Alola.

You and Cadence stop by a nice clothing boutique and try on some clothes. You fall in love with a lovely little white floral sun dress that perfectly matches the sun hat you bought the other day and can’t help but buy it and wear it out of the store. You opt to stand outside the shop as Cadence makes her purchases just to take in the sight.

As you scan the streets, you feel a tap on your shoulder, “Hey there sweetness, you lost?”

You turn to see some guy you don’t know. He doesn't appear to be a local so you're not sure if he'd be able to help you if you were lost, but you suppose it was considerate? “Um, no, I'm just waiting for someone.” You point to the shop behind you.

“Well how about ditching your friend and you and I can check out the sights.” He pesters on.

He stands uncomfortably close. You can’t help but feel a bit intimidated, “No thank you, sir, I’m fine where I am.”

Bubble notices your discomfort around this stranger and stands alert, a low growl emanating from his throat.

The man smiles sleazily as he looks you up and down “Come on now, don’t be a tease, walking around in that cute little number like you don’t wanna get noticed.”

Your hands tug on the hem of your dress. Is it really that provocative? If any normal person had called your outfit cute you’d be flattered, but this isn’t the kind of attention you wanted when you first decided to get the dress. You start to feel a little less confident in your purchase.

The man reaches out and grabs your wrist, “Come on, baby, let me just take you around, have a little fun.”

Bubble’s growls become louder and he bares his teeth but the man doesn’t seem to notice or care. Bubble is not an aggressive boy, one of the sweetest Pokemon you know, but he’s not afraid to tussle if it means protecting you. As much as you appreciate the sentiment, you’d rather not have him taken away for mauling a stranger on the street. You decide that you can’t freak out. You need to take control of this situation and stay calm as to not make it any more tense than it is.

You try to pull your hand away, but his hand remains firmly around your wrist. “I said I’m not interested, sir, let go.” you demand firmly but calmly as not to make a scene.

His amusement seems to turn to anger and fear washes over you, “What, you got a man or are you just too good to hang out with me, huh?” He hisses, tightening his grip.

You feel tears threatening to well up, “Please, let go, that hurts.” You don’t have control over this situation and you don’t know what to do.

"A pretty face is no excuse to act like a prissy bi-,"His features suddenly shift again from anger to fear as he looks past you.

A hand lands on your shoulder and you look up to see him, the gang leader. “This guy bothering you, babe?”

His large hand squeezes your shoulder reassuringly. The fear that previously overtook you subsided slightly as a wave of relief seemed to spread through you from his protective grip. Your heart flutters a bit at being called 'babe' but you manage to remain composed. You nod tears stinging your eyes.

He pulls you closer so that your back is against his chest. You can hear his heart pounding, probably rushing with adrenaline in preparation for a possible fight and you can feel your own heart doing the same but for different reasons, “You heard the lady, she says she don’t wanna go anywhere with your ugly ass.” he growls, “Now beat it before things get even uglier than you already are.”

Bubble seems to growl furiously in agreement. The aggressive show the two put on seems to catch the attention of people passing by and some stop to observe the scene with mild concern.

The man looks around nervously before releasing his grip and backing away, “Hey, I don’t want any trouble, man, didn’t know she was with you.” With that said, he mumbles an apology to you before turning heel and briskly walking away down the sidewalk.

"Tch, damn tourists actin' afool." the tall man hissed under his breath as he watched the stranger stumble out of sight.

Bubble whimpers anxiously as he nudges you gently, making sure that you’re okay. You pat his head in reassurance before turning to look up at your rescuer, your eyes a bit misty from being on the verge of tears from fear. “Thank you.” you say quietly.

He shrugs not looking at your face, “It’s whatever.” His hand still rests on your shoulder comfortably as though he has no intention of lifting it..

Just then, Cadence walks out of the shop with several bags, “Hey, you’ll never guess what I-” she looks up at you then at him then at his hand on your shoulder. Her face twists into anger and she shoves herself between you two. “What the hell do you think you’re doing to her?” she hisses at him.

He looks annoyed and ready to start a fight just as much as her before you chime in, “No wait, he protected me from some creep.”

Cadence looks at you in disbelief.”What?” she asks.

“Some guy was harassing me and he scared him off, h-he saved me.” You move around Cadence and stand between the two of them.

He seems just as confused as her. You get the impression he may not be used to being defended.

Your cousin’s face holds a mixture of several emotions; worry, anger, and confusion to name the identifiable ones. She goes up to you and looks you over, “Are you hurt at all?”

You shake your head, “I’m fine, thanks to him.” You gesture toward your white-haired hero who is now standing rather awkwardly to the side looking unsure as to what to do with himself. 

You turn toward him, looking up at him without any fear for the first time, “I want to properly thank you.”

He seems a bit confused and flustered at your sudden confidence, “Um nah, it’s cool, just being a decent human being, ya know?”

"Hmph, 'decent'," you hear Cadence mumbles snarkily, but you ignore her.

You frown, “Are you sure? What are you doing now, can I buy you a coffee or something?”

Cadence looks a tad uncomfortable at your invitation for him to join you two but she says nothing.

Just before he can answer you hear someone calling out ,"Yo G!”

You both turn to see a young woman around your age with pink and yellow hair looking in your direction. She is standing on the other side of the street holding a couple bags. You decide that despite her nonchalant demeanor, she’s the kind of girl who could definitely kick your ass if she wanted to. You can't help but wonder what her relationship with him is. 

“Nah really, I’m good, besides,” He gestures to the girl across the street who is now standing with her arms crossed impatiently, “ I’m out with a friend of mine at the moment and she’s none too patient.”

Cadence looks relieved.

"Can I at least know your name?" you kind of feel bad about just thinking of him as 'that gang leader'. 

"Never really introduced myself, huh?" he rubs a hand over his undercut, "I got a lot of names, some not so nice, but you can call me Guzma."

“Well then,Guzma” you say, smiling, “I guess I’ll just owe you a favor in the future.”

Cadence suddenly grabs your arm, “Ok, thank you for saving my cousin, but we gotta go now.” and with that, she tugs you away.

You look back to see him watching you. The girl has crossed the street begins talking to him, seemingly scolding him, but he doesn’t look away from you. You wave and mouth out one last thank you and just as he turns away to walk with the girl, you think you can catch a glimpse of a genuine smile.

“You can’t just go offering him a favor, dummy,” Cadence scolds you.

“Why not, I just wanna thank him somehow,” you counter, “He did a really cool thing for me, what else am I supposed to do?”

“Give him money or something, you don’t know what kind of favors he will ask from you.”

Your cousin switches back and forth from checking on your physical well being and scolding you for interacting with unsavory types and about learning when to make a scene. As she nags, you think of him again and smile to yourself.

Guzma. 

*****************************************************************************

“Are you even listening?”

You snap back to reality and look over at your cousin scowling at you. You two have holed up in your room for the rest of the evening after getting home as a sanctuary from the stress of earlier incidents. You've been watching TV, eating snacks, and doing general sleepover type activities. Right now Cadence is painting your nails and talking to you about boys, you think. You actually kind of spaced out in your own thoughts as she talked on and on and you’ve lost track of the conversation.

“So, obviously my love life is too uninteresting for you, so how about yours?” She inquires, looking up from your nails curiously.

You actually haven’t dated anyone for a good while. No one has really caught your attention since you’ve been focusing on yourself so love hasn’t been a main priority for you. It wasn’t that you didn’t want a relationship, you just haven’t found ‘The One’. 

You shrug, “My ‘love life’ is extremely nonexistent.”

Cadence looks at you with a doubtful expression, “Really? No one’s even caught your eye at all?” She chuckles, “Is there no one good enough for my baby cousin?”

You ponder your options for only a moment before someone pops into your head; Guzma. You blush at how suddenly he came to mind. You’re almost embarrassed. You don’t even know what it is you like about him; Is it his hair? His crooked smile? His tough guy demeanor with more gentle undertones? His familiarity? You blush harder and try not to make a weird face.

Cadence seems to notice your struggle and smiles wide, “Oooooh, you do like someone!” She puts down the nail polish and holds your hands, careful not to touch your nails, “Who is it? Do I know them? Are they cute? If they are, do they have any siblings you can hook me up with?”

You look away from her giddy expression. You really want to tell her just to gush about all these feelings, but you’re reluctant to open that can of worms.

“So?” She looks at you expectantly. You know she won’t let this go unless you either tell her what she wants to hear or bring up a more interesting topic.

“Um, no, you don’t know him.” You lie, “He’s… cute, yeh…” You nearly break a sweat as you try to rattle your brain for a way to change the topic quickly. “Oh by the way, how are things with that one boy you were seeing last time?”

“Which one?” she asks.

“The one with the mole?” You hope to distract her from you with her favorite topic, boys.

“THE MOLE!” She exclaims. Got her.

She begins to rant passionately and angrily about ‘The Mole’ and you’re just relieved you survived her interrogation.

As interested in Guzma as you may be, you know you can’t let your family know about your feelings toward him considering how they already seem to feel about him simply existing in the first place. You figure trying for any type of relationship is out of the question anyway, you doubt he even feels the same, but you refuse to relinquish the simple pleasure of being able to at the very least admire him without judgement. Your feelings are yours to keep locked away. 

After a few long rants later, you both call it a night and head off to bed. Bubble lays across the foot of your bed lazily as you get dressed and hop into bed as well. You snuggle in and as you do your mind wanders to Guzma again. You really don’t know what it is you like about him. In terms of boys, he isn’t the highest quality you could have gone for, yet he’s caught your attention nonetheless. You think about what he did for you, how he didn’t have to do that yet there he was. You felt so safe. You bury your face in your blankets, embarrassed by how much you’re thinking about him, like someone’s gonna read your mind and know.

You let yourself revel in the feeling of having a crush. Maybe he’ll take you up on that favor and you’ll get to see just a little bit more of him. Your mind is filled with thoughts of Guzma as you finally drift off to sleep


	5. Rain

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Readers:  
> Me after having not updated in months: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rnw-TRbTng8
> 
> I'm sorry for not updating the story as frequently as I hoped I would. You'd think quarantine would give me extra time to do that, but sadly this has not been the case. I finally found the time to sit and make this chapter and I hope you guys enjoy it. I want to try to work on this more but I don't wanna promise regular updates. I'll try to get it to you as best I can though because you guys are great and I want to give you something great.
> 
> Enjoy this chapter and thank you so much for reading <3 <3 <3

In the weeks you spend in Alola, your cousin and auntie make sure to show you all the sights Alola has to offer. On your days off, you and your family hop around the islands to experience all of the new people, food, and pokemon. You've even had the chance to witness a real Alolan Pokemon battle and see the kind of move sets the Pokemon of the region have. It's all so exciting. Of all the things to do in Alola, though, is simply going to the beach. Many regions have beaches, but there’s something about Alolan beaches that give you a sense of calm and joy. Your cousin feels the beaches are overrated; a place for tourists and people who enjoy throwing pyukumuku back into the ocean. Despite her distaste for it, you go to the beach often. Alola truly is a paradise. There is one area that has captured your attention though, a place your auntie and cousin haven’t tried to drag you to or even mention.

“What’s in Po Town?” you ask Cadence one day as you’re scanning a map of Alola. You are laying on your bed, marking off the places you’ve been with a red pen. You’ve been practically everywhere accessible on Ula’Ula except this peculiar spot some ways off on the edge of the island.

Cadence frowns and looks up from her phone she had been swiping through on the floor. “Ugh, that place.”

You look at her, confused, “What’s wrong with it?”

“That’s an area that the team skull gang took over a while ago.” She says, looking back at her phone, “Most people relocated because of how bad things got.”

“Why hasn’t anyone moved back yet?” It would seem like the thing to do, you think, to move back home once the threat is gone.

“The place is such a wreck that there’s no point.” She shrugs, not looking up from whatever app she’s absorbed in, “There’s nothing but busted buildings and heavy rain, the place is practically a ghost town, nothing worth seeing.”

You frown, “Seems like an awful waste to just leave it like that.”

“I think they wanna tear it down and build something new over there but there are a couple people who still live over there who haven’t been willing to give up their homes, probably because rent’s super cheap.” She snorts, “Honestly, I’d want to get out of there as soon as I could, I wouldn’t want to stay in an area that looks so decrepit and dreary.”

You sit quietly for a while in thought, only the tapping on your cousin’s phone breaking the silence, before speaking again, “We should visit Po Town.”

Cadence looks up at you with her eyes wide in disbelief, “What?”

You shrug, “I dunno, just seems like an interesting area and I want to see as much of Alola as I can, good and bad.” you smile nervously as you meet your cousin’s judgmental stare, “ and I guess there’s the thrill factor of going to a spooky area, right?”

Cadence shakes her head, “I don’t know, cousin, there’s literally nothing to see over there and on top of that, even though team skull has been disbanded, there are still some... undesirables around.” 

You roll your eyes. She sounds like one of those suburban moms who clutch their purses tighter when getting in an elevator with a group of teenagers. ‘Undesirables’.

She sits up off the floor onto her knees and props her elbows on the bed next to you, “Listen, they’re not as bad as they once were, but it’s enough that I’d worry about your safety.” She takes your face in her hands and looks you in the eyes, “Just stay clear of Po Town, alright?”

You look into her pleading eyes. You know she only has your best interest in mind and she’s probably right. “Fine.”

Cadence smiles at you and gives your face an affectionate squish before returning to her spot on the floor and her phone. 

Even though your cousin can be a bit over dramatic, you figure it’s best you heed her warning. If a place is considered that dangerous by the locals it’s probably a place to avoid at all costs. You doodle a frowny face over Po town on the map.

*****************************************************************************

Another day off at last. Working at your auntie’s shop isn’t particularly hard work, but the monotony of it really wears you down. You finally understand why Cadence has so many complaints. Your aunt really should hire some more hands. 

“See ya later mom!” Cadence calls into the house before shutting the door. She walks down the driveway to the truck where you and Bubble are waiting patiently.

You have opted to go to the beach today with the weather being so nice and all. Even Cadence who usually isn't too keen on beaches agreed to go so not to waste such a good day. On top of that, tourist season is around the corner and you both figure you should get in as much beach time as you can before the beaches get completely packed.

Cadence gets into the driver’s side and puts on her sunglasses, “Ready?” she smiles.

You turn to look at Bubble lazily sprawled across the back seat with your bag of beach items and he snorts an affirmative.

You look back at your cousin, “Let’s go.”

With that, you’re off. You drive down the windy road with the window down, allowing the warm breeze to hit your face. You look up to see colorful pokemon flying through the sky and you can’t help but smile. Today just feels like a good day.

You and your companions finally make it to the beach. There are plenty of other beach goers, but it is thankfully not packed so you won’t have any trouble picking a spot. You and Bubble hop out and stretch while Cadence unloads the car. You slip off the shorts and top you wore over your swimsuit and turn toward the sea before remembering something.

“Oh wait, don’t move,” you chirp at Bubble as you turn back and dig around in the truck, “Come here, Bubs.” 

Bubble approaches obediently, if not a bit suspicious, and remains still as you place heart-shaped sunglasses over his eyes. He looks at you over the rim, unamused.

“You’re so handsome.” You coo as you squish his face. “My handsome baby boy.”

He huffs indignantly but the wagging of his tail tells you he appreciates the compliment. You’d die for this grumpy boy.

You spend the rest of your time splashing and swimming in the waves and playing in the sand while Cadence opts to sunbathe. Even Bubble gets in on some of the fun, chasing the waves and digging holes with you before also breaking to lounge in the sun. After a while, you begin to tire out and take a break, taking a seat on your beach towel. You take a moment as you let the sun dry you to take in the view. The cool ocean breeze blows through your hair and you breathe in the sweet scent of tropical flowers. This place is perfect. You wish you could live like this forever. Moments like this really makes you forget about all the stress in your life. If only you could stay here in this moment, you’d never have to worry about what you need to do or who you need to be, it’s just you and the sea and the sun.

You are suddenly snapped out of your reverie by your cousin’s hand on your shoulder. “I don’t know about you, but I’ve had my fill on beach time.”

You have not had your fill, but she looks tired and she would be considering she’s lived in Alola all her life and has seen so much more beach time than any person could probably stand. “Yeah, I’m beat.”

As you move to collect your belongings you hear a low growl emanating from Bubble’s direction. You look over at him with concern and confusion to see his eyes locked on a bug pokemon in the distance. When you were little, you were deathly afraid of bugs due to an incident in your childhood that both you and Bubble experienced. As an adult this fear has subsided into mild discomfort but Bubble, who has apparently dedicated himself to personally destroying all bugs, has not let it go.

“Bubs…?” you say cautiously, “Come on, boy, d-don’t…”

Before you can finish your thought he’s off. You and Cadence take off after him, calling out to him to no avail. The cube shaped bug pokemon looks up to see the larger, angry beast and takes off down the beach with frantic chirps.

“What’s gotten into your damn pokemon?” Cadence yells breathlessly.

You don’t answer as you keep running and calling out to Bubble fruitlessly. 

This feels familiar. You’ve definitely chased him while he went after bugs before, but this particular scenario is giving you some serious deja vu. You are so focused on the moment you don’t notice Cadence trip over her feet and face plant into the sand. You don’t hear her call out to you as Bubble reaches a sandy path going into the jungle. You probably shouldn’t follow but you’re keeping pace and you can almost brush him with your fingertips. If you pause now, you’ll lose him. As you run after your beloved pokemon you feel the ground beneath your bare feet turn from soft sand to dirt and leaves. You begin to tire and slow before finally slowing to a stop and leaning against a tree.

“B-Bub...Bubb… Buh…” You try to call between breathes as you watch helplessly as your canine companion continues into the foliage and out of sight. “Goddammit.”

You catch your breath for a moment as you look around. You finally notice Cadence isn’t on your tail anymore and worry sets in. You think for a moment it’d be best to head back, but you can’t recall which way is “back”. This definitely feels like something that’s happened before. You vaguely remember having been lost in the jungle before when you were little, but you can’t recall much else. History repeats, you suppose. Well, if you’re gonna be lost in the jungle anyways, you can try to track down your pokemon or at the very least some civilization. You press onward into the direction Bubble had gone.

Some time passes and you’re beginning to get anxious. You know the jungle is big and all but this is ridiculous, there’s gotta be a house or something somewhere. You call out for Bubble with no response. This sucks. This is possibly the worst scenario you could be in. Things couldn’t possibly get any- You feel a fat raindrop fall onto your nose before heaven itself decides to crack open and release the floodgates. You could cry. You trudge on, soaking wet and miserable. You’ve nearly lost hope before noticing a structure in the distance. It looks like…

“A house!” You exclaim in relief to no one in particular. You are filled with euphoria, you’ve made it. Civilization

You walk faster toward the looming building but as you get closer, the place looks a bit run down. You slow your walking to take in the sight. It looks like a large mansion that might have been a very lovely and grandeur sight to behold at some point but that must have been a long time ago. Windows were broken with boards haphazardly nailed across them and graffiti covered the walls. Trash littered the grounds around the building despite there seeming to be no residents as the lights were all out. This was not what you had ideally hoped for when you wished for civilization but this should at least suffice to get you out of this rain.

You approach the large front door and give it a push. It appears to be slightly ajar so it opens easily. You let yourself in and close the door carefully behind you to keep the draft out. You look around the room and it actually looks worse than the outside. Broken beams and furniture litter the foyer, some piled to the point of blocking off doors. The paint has peeled and chipped over the course of probably several years and a whole chandelier seems to have fallen from the ceiling. It would seem no one has actually lived here in some time, but someone has definitely been here from the looks of all the graffiti on the walls and trash mixed in with the debris. This is not a place you want to spend too much time but it’ll do until the rain subsides, whenever that is. You consider doing some exploring before hearing a clatter upstairs and muffled curses. You freeze. What if it’s one of those gang members or some other dangerous person your auntie and cousin warned you about. You need to get out of here. You cautiously and quietly make your way toward the front door and pull on it only to find it won’t budge. You frantically jiggle the knob and pull until the knob falls out and drops to the floor with a “clang”. You feel your soul leave your body as the sound upstairs stops. You hear loud footsteps making their way toward you.

“Oh no oh no oh no oh no…” You whisper as you run around trying to push the debris away from the doorways with no luck. When it seems escape isn’t an option, you grab for a broken chair leg to defend yourself.

“AYE,” A voice booms from upstairs, “WHO THE FUCK IS DOWN THERE??”

You are hyperventilating as you press your back against the door and put up your makeshift weapon, not breaking your eyes from the stairs.

A large figure appears at the top of the stairs holding something in their hand. It seems you weren’t the only one to pick up a weapon. You can’t make out the features of the figure in the darkness but a flash of lightning gives the figure an intimidating outline. The fear finally gets to you and you crumple to the floor and pass out.

The last thing you hear as you black out is footsteps and someone saying in a very confused tone, “What the hell?”

**Author's Note:**

> This is my very first attempt at writing fanfiction... Well my first finished attempt. It was originally just for my own self indulgence, but I figured I'd share since I actually like how it turned out so far.
> 
> If this does well, I'll post more. If it doesn't... I guess I'll still post more but not regularly, it's just for funsies anyways.
> 
> Hope you enjoyed!


End file.
